Bus Riders Grateful For Pentran's New Service

April 21, 1997|By GREG A. LOHR Daily Press

NEWPORT NEWS — As local officials Sunday afternoon kicked off Pentran's new Sunday bus service with speeches and entertainment, grateful riders celebrated in a quieter, more subtle fashion - visiting relatives, going to work and riding "just to see things."

"It's very convenient for me," said Maggie Benson, who hopped on board near her Washington Avenue apartment to pay a surprise visit to her older sister in Denbigh. Benson said she couldn't have afforded the trip without the transit company's new service, since "cab fares really hurt your pocket."

Elizabeth Yeatts, who lives on 50th Street, rode to church so she wouldn't have to walk the two blocks with her cane.

After church, Yeatts took the bus to Fort Eustis and back to watch the passing scenery - a regular activity for the 78-year-old, who rides hours on a bus a few days a week because she gets lonely at home.

"I like to ride just to see things," she said, smiling and glancing out the window. "The trees are pretty. A person doesn't like to stay inside."

Pentran officials and passengers for years have talked about adding Sunday service. It finally got a green light in late 1996, when Hampton City Council agreed to help Newport News pay 20 percent of the service's cost. A $320,000 federal grant pays the remainder.

Pentran projects the service will average 1,000 riders per Sunday in its first six months and double that in the second half of the year.

A regular flow of riders on the service's first day seemed to indicate Pentran's predictions will come true. Some passengers heard about the service through local media, while others said they were pleasantly surprised Sunday morning to see buses on the streets.

Pentran driver Raheem Ahmad said fewer people rode Sunday than on an average weekday.

"But this is a pretty good number for being the first Sunday," he said. "They're riding. They've been waiting for this."

A recurring complaint among even the most appreciative Sunday riders was that buses should run later in the evening.

Sunday buses now roll from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. But that's no help to people who work late shifts, said Joanne Hodges, an environmental aide at Riverside Regional Medical Center who rode the bus home from work just after 3 p.m.

Otherwise, the Phoebus resident is happy with the new service. From now on, she won't have to wait more than an hour for her son to pick her up after he gets off work. And he won't have to go to the trouble.